Stability, integrity paying off for Faulconer

After the Bob Filner debacle, San Diego voters are clearly hungry for a mayor who can be counted on for integrity and high ethical standards. This could be what’s behind City Councilman Kevin Faulconer’s emergence as the clear leader in the latest U-T San Diego/10News poll in the run-up to the Nov. 19 special mayoral election.

In a SurveyUSA poll of 550 likely voters, integrity was called the single most important quality for a new mayor to have. Republican Faulconer received the support of 41 percent of likely voters to 28 percent for Democrat Nathan Fletcher, a Qualcomm executive. City Councilman David Alvarez, also a Democrat, was third with 17 percent.

TV ads for Faulconer in which popular former Mayor Jerry Sanders touts his principled leadership also appear to be helping his rise. Fletcher, meanwhile, likely was hurt by attacks over his unusual 14-month metamorphosis from Republican to independent to Democrats — as well as his chronic absenteeism in early 2012 when an Assembly member running for mayor.

In a city in which Democrats have a voter registration advantage, a runoff election pitting two candidates would seem to favor the Democrat. But that’s between a generic Republican and a generic Democrat. Faulconer is far more impressive than a generic Republican. As for Fletcher, he doesn’t have nearly long enough a record as a Democrat to judge his party bona fides.